Ah ! les oaristys ! les premières maîtresses ! L'or des cheveux, l'azur des yeux, la fleur des chairs, Et puis, parmi l'odeur des corps jeunes et chers, La spontanéité craintive des caresses ! Sont-elles assez loin toutes ces allégresses Et toutes ces candeurs ! Hélas ! toutes devers Le printemps des regrets ont fui les noirs hivers De mes ennuis, de mes dégoûts, de mes détresses ! Si que me voilà seul à présent, morne et seul, Morne et désespéré, plus glacé qu'un aïeul, Et tel qu'un orphelin pauvre sans sœur aînée. Ô la femme à l'amour câlin et réchauffant, Douce, pensive et brune, et jamais étonnée, Et qui parfois vous baise au front, comme un enfant !
Confirmed with Paul Verlaine, Poëmes saturniens, Paris: Alphonse Lemerre, 1866, pages 19-20.
Text Authorship:
- by Paul Verlaine (1844 - 1896), "Vœu", appears in Poèmes saturniens, in 1. Melancholia, no. 4, Paris, Alphonse Lemerre, first published 1866 [author's text checked 2 times against a primary source]
Musical settings (art songs, Lieder, mélodies, (etc.), choral pieces, and other vocal works set to this text), listed by composer (not necessarily exhaustive):
- by Louis Dumas (1877 - 1952), "Vœu", published 1913 [ voice and piano ], Demets [sung text not yet checked]
- by Robert Otlet , "Vœu", published 1935 [ voice and piano ], from Melancholia, no. 3, Bosworth et Cie [sung text not yet checked]
- by Philip Wilby (b. 1949), "Vœu", copyright © 1988, first performed 1983 [ medium voice and piano ], from Ten songs of Paul Verlaine for medium voice and piano, Cycle I : Melancholia, no. 3, Chester Music [sung text not yet checked]
Available translations, adaptations or excerpts, and transliterations (if applicable):
- ENG English (Bergen Weeks Applegate) , "Vow", appears in Poems Saturnine, in 1. Melancholia, no. 4
Research team for this page: Emily Ezust [Administrator] , Poom Andrew Pipatjarasgit [Guest Editor]
This text was added to the website: 2012-01-13
Line count: 14
Word count: 112
Ah! the raptures! the first mistresses! Gold hair, blue eyes, and blossoms of the flesh. The odor of the bodies young and fresh. The fearful joy of the first shy caresses! Has all forever gone — sweet foolishness! And all those old time candors! Ah, returning Toward youth's lost spring they've fled, the winter spurning Of my ennui, disgust and sore distress! So here am I at last, sad and alone, Cold as an altar — colder than a stone — Orphan, who knows no elder sister's love. O woman, whose caress my soul beguiled, Brunette, pensive and sweet, that naught can move, Who sometimes kisses gently, like a child!
Confirmed with Bergen Applegate, Paul Verlaine: His Absinthe-Tinted Song, Chicago, Ralph Fletcher Seymour, The Alderbrink Press, 1916, pages 46-47.
Text Authorship:
- by Bergen Weeks Applegate (b. 1865), "Vow", appears in Poems Saturnine, in 1. Melancholia, no. 4 [author's text checked 1 time against a primary source]
Based on:
- a text in French (Français) by Paul Verlaine (1844 - 1896), "Vœu", appears in Poèmes saturniens, in 1. Melancholia, no. 4, Paris, Alphonse Lemerre, first published 1866
Musical settings (art songs, Lieder, mélodies, (etc.), choral pieces, and other vocal works set to this text), listed by composer (not necessarily exhaustive):
- [ None yet in the database ]
Researcher for this page: Poom Andrew Pipatjarasgit [Guest Editor]
This text was added to the website: 2022-03-01
Line count: 14
Word count: 110